Protecters, Guardians, Whatever We Are
by on0wings0like0eagles
Summary: NM. After a divorce, Charlie's sister moves back to Forks with her two daughters. It is then revealed that the Swan family is larger and more powerful than anyone's known. They're all danger magnets, and they need protected; Bella will be human no longer.
1. Ellie, Penny & Ari Enter Stage Left

The Protectors, Guardians, Whatever

**AN: So this is my first Twilight story that I'm posting, so it's going to be an adventure, that's for sure. Please, review, give me feed back, tell me what you do like and don't like. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own it; no copyright infringement; it all belongs to Stephenie Meyer and Little, Brown; blah, blah, blah, insert more legal terms here. **

* * *

**Full Summary: When Charlie's sister, Penny, gets divorced, she moves back to her hometown of Forks with her two daughters, Ellie and Ari. Ellie has always brought out a different side in Bella, so she's Charlie's only hope to pull Bella out of her depression after Edward's departure in New Moon. But it's soon discovered that the Swan family is actually rather large and powerful, and a danger magnet. The Swans need to be protected, and it's up to Ellie and Bella do so. Bella's no longer a helpless human; how will this change the course of the books?**

* * *

Charlie Swan was by no means an unemotional or callous man; he was just awkward. He cared for his daughter as much, if not more, than any other dad in the world, and he was tired of seeing her so hollow. He knew that there were only two people who could bring her back to life, and one he wasn't going to let get anywhere near Bella, lest he break her heart again.

So, as he watched Bella pick at her peas, he put his clean plate in the sink, picked up the cordless phone and dialed the numbers where the silver paint had been worn away from repeated use.

The phone rang twice before a female voice answered. "Doctor Penelope Swan." It said by a way of greeting.

"Penny, it's Charlie."

"Oh, hey Charlie."

"Hello sis. I guess the divorce was finalized?" He asked.

"It was, as of this afternoon. I was just about to call you and tell you that your sister was now a single woman. So why is it that you called?" Penny asked.

"Well, Pen, there's an opening at Forks Hospital after _his_ father left," Charlie started to explain, but was cut off by his younger sister's sigh.

"Charlie, are you trying to get me to move back to Forks?" Penny asked.

"Well, yes, Pen, I am." He admitted as he moved into the living room to sit in his favorite worn chair.

"You know why I left Forks in the first place." She sighed.

"I do know, to get away from the memories of mom and dad. But, really, you just got divorced. Maybe it would be good to start over? Bring the girls out to live in the place where you grew up?" Charlie said, trying to convince her.

"I don't know, Charlie. Ellie and Ari have friends here, and it's the middle of the school year." Despite her reluctance that she hinted at while talking to her brother, Penelope Swan was actually starting to think moving back to her hometown would be a good idea. She liked the idea of getting her two daughters away from the city of Pittsburgh and into the small town of Forks, a place she loved.

"Come on, you know how friendly everyone here is, and I think it would be good for Bella to have Ellie around. You know how she brings out a different side of Bells, and that might help her get over _him_." Charlie pleaded, hearing Bella start to wash the dishes.

Meanwhile, Penny pulled car into the driveway of her home in a richer area of Pittsburgh, and walked in the front door were she saw her elder daughter, Ellie, reading a book on the couch. "She's still catatonic?" She asked her brother, and Ellie looked up from her book, knowing that her mother was talking about her only cousin.

"She is." Charlie sighed, starting to get a headache.

Penny, imitating her brother, also sighed.

"I'll get back to you Charlie." Penny said honestly.

"Okay." He sighed. "I'll talk to you then Penny."

"Bye-Charlie."

* * *

"Bye." Penny hit the end button on her cell phone and looked at her daughter. "Ari 's asleep?" She asked, sitting down on the couch opposite of her, not bothering to take off her lab coat or put her purse down.

"Yeah, she went to bed about an hour ago. It took forever, though, for her to get asleep." Ellie said, closing her book and switching from a laying position to a sitting position.

"I guess she's just getting used to the change. Divorce is hard on kids her age. Speaking of it, how are you?" Penny asked, worried about Ellie.

"I'm fine, mom, really. You know I've never been one to cry or get really mad and over react." Ellie insisted, yawning. While it was only six o'clock in Forks, it was ten in Pittsburgh. "I think I'm going to go to bed. I'm really tired after today. At least I don't have school tomorrow." She said, and it was, infact, a Friday.

"Hey, can I talk to you first?" Penny stopped her daughter.

"Sure, what about?" Ellie asked, sitting beside her mom with her book in her lap.

Penny took a deep breath.

"Sweetie, how would you feel about moving to Forks?" She asked, and Ellie yawned and thought about that for a moment.

"I'm up for it." She said honestly.

"Really?" Penny asked. "You wouldn't mind leaving all of your friends behind?"

"Come on, mom, it's the 21st century. There's the internet and text messages."

"If you're sure… Want to do some house shopping?" Penny asked.

"Sure." Ellie agreed, and they searched the internet for a home for the three of them.

They found one after an hour that had three bedrooms and two bathrooms, a garage, and was a standard log cabin style home.

Deciding to be spontaneous, they put an offer for the house in online, and hoped to hear back from the realtor by Sunday.

* * *

It was a week later and Charlie had yet to hear back from his little sister. Penny had never been forgetful, so he was worried about why she didn't call back. Eventually, he decided it was because of her recent divorce.

He was wrong, however, because she was busy transferring Ellie from her school to Forks High, buying a house, getting hired at Forks' hospital as their new surgeon, signing Ari up for preschool, and buying new furniture that would be delivered and set up at their new house.

In fact, they managed to get all of that done, and just as Charlie dismissed Penny's not replying as part of the divorce, they pulled into the drive way in Penny's Porsche Cayenne Turbo S, and Ellie jumped out of the passenger seat and ran to the front door of the Swan house, eager to see her cousin, no matter what state she was in. Ellie didn't even bother to knock; she just opened the door and embraced her cousin, who was standing in the living room.

"'ello Bella." Ellie said cheerfully. Bella turned her head and looked down at her only slightly shorter cousin.

"Ellie?" She asked, showing a little hint of emotion in her voice.

"Ellie?" Charlie asked, walking in from the kitchen, noticing his sister and niece standing in the doorway, in raincoats. "Penny? Ari?"

"Surprise." Penny said weakly, leading her younger daughter into the house as she closed the door.

"Come in." Charlie said happily.

"Hello." Bella said weakly as Ellie let go.

"For goodness' sake! You could at least show some enthusiasm!" Ellie insisted, and Bella's face relaxed from a blank mask into her normal, unexpressive face.

Ellie just had a presence that did to a person.

"What are you doing here?" Charlie asked. "Not that you're not welcome or anything." He added hastily.

"Charlie, we moved here." Penny said tentatively.

"Really?" He asked, almost smiling.

"Yes, Uncle Charlie!" Ari said in her adorable four year old voice.

"Really?" He asked, playing along with the four year old.

"Yup!" She said, popping the 'p' and almost making Bella smile.

"That's fantastic!" He cooed, his younger niece always bringing out the softer side of him.

"So where is your new house?" Bella asked stiffly, not used to conversing with other people.

"Oh, it's just northwest of the town, a short distance from the school and the hospital." Penny explained, moving into the living room and taking a seat on the one end of the couch with Ari in her lap, Ellie in the middle of the couch and Bella on the other end while Charlie sat in his chair. No one really knew what to say, so Charlie awkwardly started the conversation again.

"So, Ellie, are you starting school on Monday?"

"Yeah, I am." She nodded. "Freshman."

"Oh, that's right. You skipped a grade." Charlie cleared his throat and attempted conversation again. "So, Penny, have you talked to Billy yet?"

"Oh, no, I haven't talked to anyone yet. I was able to complete all of the paperwork back East, so we only got here around noon today, but I was planning on taking tomorrow off to be lazy and recuperate, and Sunday we'll go around town to say hello to anyone we actually like. I wonder if Lisa Stanley is still working at the bank. Maybe I can go there and then the whole town will know we moved back." Penny said, chuckling.

"Why don't the five of us go out to dinner somewhere tomorrow?" Charlie suggested. "There's the new pizza place that just opened up last month."

"Sounds good." Penny agreed, and continued talking to her brother about this and that.

Meanwhile, Ellie just observed her cousin. While Bella had always been introverted in public, she could never shut up, stay calm or stop moving when she was around Ellie. Ellie knew that, even though she had never meet Edward Cullen (she had seen him for a brief moment whenever she had flown to Phoenix and visited Bella in the hospital in March, and he once answered the phone when she called Bella) but she knew that she must have loved him a lot.

Almost too much.

So much that, now that he's gone, she left. Physically, she's there, but spiritually and mentally and emotionally, she's gone, most likely to the place where _he_ is.

Ellie knew that she needed to change that for Bella's sake. She needed to live, and anyhow, living well is the best form of revenge.

A plan formed in Ellie's head. This was going to be good.


	2. Aunt Opium Wasn't Insane?

**Disclaimer: It's not mine, it's SMeyers. **

**So I would like to thank the people who favorited the last chapter. In this one, the action begins to pick up, and it really starts getting fun. **

**Also, don't always expect updates to be this fast. I've had these typed up for a while, but I have a few segments of crucial parts in other chapters typed. **

**Off to the story! Remember, R&R. **

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Ellie POV

The next day, Uncle Charlie and Bella met mom, Ari and I at _Steve's Pizza_. We had just ordered our pizzas when a group of kids about Bella's age came over to our table, most likely to introduce themselves (Jessica, Lauren, Tyler, Eric, Mike, Katie, Angela and Ben). Included in this group were several guys (Mike, Tyler, Eric and Ben) and though I knew that Ben and Eric were dating (Angela and Katie, respectively) Mike and Tyler seemed to be single.

I watched Bella's reactions to them. She didn't seem to have the hots for either of them, so I must find someone else for Operation Get Bella's Groove Back.

Dang.

They talked for a few minutes and asked if I was going to Forks High (which I was, thank-you very much) before Angela quietly remarked "I can see the resemblance" and they all went back to their table where their pizza had just arrived.

Bella, who I was sitting beside at our round table was playing with her straw, and being a boring empty shell again. I began to study her. I guess, because I take after mom and mom and Uncle Charlie look so much alike I would resemble Bella. We have the same nose, but that's all I can think of. I have this weird shade of light auburn hair that sometimes looked a shade of blonde that neither of my parents have, so I must only conclude that it's a mix of my dad's blonde hair and my mom's brown and red-ish hair.

"So, Charlie." My mom said, taking a sip of her water. "I know you go fishing on Sundays, but I was wondering if you take the day off to show your little sister and nieces around La Push. Say hello to Billy and Jake, if I remember his son's name right, and Harry and Sue and all of our other old friends."

Uncle Charlie half smiled in the way that he usually did. "Of course. I called Billy last night, and he said that he was excited to meet up with all of."

"Great. I can't believe I haven't seen him since Sarah's funeral. Gosh. I had just found out I was pregnant then." she said. "Jake was only four, and the twins were eight. Time flies when you're a mother of two, a surgeon, getting a divorce…" She mumbled, taking another sip of her water, which had two slices of lemon in it. Because I am me, I fished the slices out; handed one to Ari who was on mom's left side (with me on her right) and I took the other one for myself, which I popped in my mouth and bit down on to squeeze the juice out.

Yes, I regularly ate lemons, and I corrupted my little sister so that she would do the same. Do you have a problem with that? I thought not.

"Hey." Mom scolded weakly. "Those were my lemons." She scowled, and I reached into my mouth to get the juiceless lemon.

"Want it?" I asked, smiling cheekishly (which I doubt is a real word—cheekily? Cheeky-like? I don't know).

"No." Mom said flatly.

"You sure?" I asked as the ham and pineapple pizza mom ordered for her, Ari and I arrived. I must say. They get a double thumbs up for speed.

"Yes." She said just as flatly.

"Your loss." I said, ripping a piece of pizza from the rest of the circle.

* * *

It was after dinner and mom and Ari and I were at our house. Mom and Ari and Uncle Charlie were downstairs, watching some sports game. I, not having the attention span to watch any sport, joined Bella in my room. She was checking her email on my laptop, responding to Renée's email generically, saying '_Yes, I'm fine. It's still raining, I miss you, I have no originality in my zombie like state and I'm barely eating but I've grown only the tiniest fraction more human since Ellie and Ari and Aunt Penny moved back to Forks, and Ellie is going to help me become even more human and help me get over the asshole with the sexy voice'. _

Okay, Bellsy did not say that, but she should have. Operation Get Bella's Groove Back will be perfect; I know that, but where to start? I haven't really gotten into planning the finer details, but so far it looks like this:

Get Bella over this _Edward_ fellow and get her to accept that the world will go on, contrary to her own belief.

Get her a reason other than Uncle Charlie and a few other people (such as myself) to live. Like a dog. She's always wanted a dog, but couldn't get once since Renée was allergic, and now she can. Or maybe a weasel. Pet weasels are cool.

Get Bellsy a new man (can't rush this step, that's why she gets something else to shower with love and affection first, to get her used to that again).

Yeah, it's not the best so far, but it's getting there. But first; step one.

"Hey Bells?" I ask from my spot on the bed.

"What?" She asks, blankly staring at the computer screen.

"Do you want to talk about it?" I asked, attempting to be sympathetic.

"What? The weather? Sure, it's raining. Nothing new. We can stop talking now." She muttered sarcastically. Sarcasm. That's good—it's a sign of life.

"No, not the weather; the Cullens." I said bluntly, and I immediately regretted it. Bella gasped at the name, her breathing ragged, and clutched her left arm in her right hand, the way that I've seen anorexics do. She clenched her eyes shut and hung her head and an expression of pain, grief and something I couldn't quite place crossed her face. Dammit, why do I have to be so tactless! "Okay, okay, forget I brought it up. Let's talk about something else, like Sporks, or why people say '_pardon my French_' when they swear or—oww!" I attempted to get her to calm down, but I felt pain on my left forearm.

It felt as if I had been burn there—that one spot on the underside of my forearm, near the crook of my elbow. I started to push up the sleeve of my hoodie when I saw Bella also examining her left arm. Weird.

"You feel pain there too?" She asked worriedly. I didn't want the second vocal affliction that she's used since I moved here to be worry, but I didn't bother to comfort her—I just listened to that little nagging voice in my head that is curiosity and pushed my sleeve the rest of the way up as I heard mom ask "What's wrong, Ari?" downstairs.

Stupid curiosity. It killed that cat, and it'll be the death of me as well.

Right there on my arm was a tattoo like thing; it was a black outline of an omega symbol, with a black little swan in the left flat line thing and underneath it read '_mulier, patronus hominum'_ which I could tell was Latin for '_woman, protector of men'_.

Yes, I knew some Latin. I went to private school.

"What is it?" I ask. Bella might have known, though I myself vaguely remember something about this symbol. From the look on her face, she knew what it was, but she didn't expect it to be that and she looked as if she should have knows that this was going to happen.

"Let's go talk to Charlie." She seemed human once more, brought back to the world of the living by the random appearance of a tattoo on both of our left arms. She took my by my right arm and dragged my down the stairs and into the living room. "Dad!" Bella cried, holding out both of our arms as we took in the scene before us. Uncle Charlie was standing beside the couch were mom sat with Ari on her lap, holding out Ari's pale stick of an arm, looking at the same tattoo. Charlie, mom and Ari looked at the two of us, and examined our arms.

"Well what do you know?" Uncle Charlie said, taking a deep breath and staggering backwards to sit back down in the chair.

"Old Aunt Opium was right." My mom finished breathlessly, running her fingers through her hair, the same way I did, when she said that.

"Aunt Opium was right about what? Wait, she wasn't insane?" I asked. Aunt Opium was the _affectionate_ name for mom and Uncle Charlie's dad's aunt on his father's side, so she was really old when she died when I was seven. Aunt Opium wasn't her real name, it was Ophelia, which always made us laugh—she was crazy (if you've ever read _Hamlet_, you'd get it), always mumbling on about some theory of hers or another. Once, the last time that I saw her before she died, she babbled about aliens coming to take over our bodies, but that it'd all be fine because there're caves in Arizona that are prefect for us all to hide in.

"I can't believe it…" Bella sighed and mom and Uncle Charlie looked at her, even more shocked.

"Anyone hear me!" I asked loudly, and Ari hopped off mom's lap, scampered over to me,

and hugged my knees.

"Well," mom started to say. "You know that Aunt Opium had always been rather…_eccentric_. For as long as I can remember, she's talked about how the Swan family is actually extremely large, but because of the number of girls born into the family, we're about the only ones who still have the Swan name." Mom started. From the look on her face, I think that she couldn't believe that this all was happening.

"And?" I asked, impatient.

"Well, she once said to me that there would be girls born into the family that would protect the rest of the family when the time comes, but—" Charlie said the two of us (Bella appeared to know most of this, but not believe it like mom and Charlie) but was cut off by the TV screen changing from the game to a news channel; breaking news. The news caster, an average middle aged man in a suit, said in a grave voice:

"Ladies and gentleman, we've breaking news. Today, only minutes ago, the President of the United States was shot outside of the Capital Building. He was rushed to the hospital and appears to be in critical condition.

"When the time comes? We're supposed to protect the rest of the Swans? Let me guess, we're related to the president." I said hysterically. Why was I freaking out? I don't freak out, that's not me. I'm not mellow, I just don't often express _negative_ emotions (including hysteric-ness, depression, fury, self loathing, etc.), so why was I acting like this and why was Bella, Ms. Freak Out and Worry About Everything, so calm? Or had her depression from Edward Collin or whatever his names was was so severe that she can't even freak out in her normal way. Okay, now I'm thought rambling.

"Um… I guess we are." Bella said apathetically.

"So, well, what, what does that m-mean?" I asked feverishly, and dammit, my stutter and tendency to repeat words was coming back!

Uncle Charlie, mom and Bella looked at each other while Ari wrapped her arms around my neck. I looked in the small window across from us, and it was dark enough outside that I could see our reflection. Ari wore an expression that said that she understood that something was utterly wrong.

After they looked at each other for a moment, mom turned towards me. "Honey, take a deep breathe and enunciate."

"I'll do that when you tell me more! How do we protect people? Why isn't Bella freaking out! Why aren't you t-two freaking out?" I asked, shocked.

"Honey, we don't know what's happening!" Mom explained angrily. I guess she didn't like my tone.

"Calm down." Bella said emotionlessly. "Yelling isn't going to solve anything."

"Really, Bells, what's your solution. Act like a bloody zombie? 'Cause that seems to be your solution to Cullen moving. Let me tell ya, it's not working, it's only making you heal more slowly!" I muttered furiously. I wasn't yelling, at least.

"And that's completely irrelevant." She sneered, wincing at the name. "What we need to do right now is find Aunt Opium's diary. That has to contain something about what's been happening." She said flatly, and I had to agree with her. I took a deep breath.

"Fine." I said and pouted a little, like Ari whenever we tell her she can't have ice cream before dinner.

"When Aunt Opium died, she divided up her stuff between us." Mom said suddenly, looking at Uncle Charlie, who nodded.

"And we put it in storage." He said gruffly. He exited the little room, and there was some clanking around in the kitchen before he came back in the room with a key in his hands.

"Good, we're going now then." I said. I just wanted answers—was that so much to ask for?

"Yeah. Go get your coat on, and your sister's, and put her in her car seat, please." Mom told me, running her hands threw her hair again. I nodded and went to the coat rack in the kitchen, pulling Ari behind me, put my coat on and put hers on.

"Come on, Ari." I said softly, picking her up and putting her on my hip. She wasn't exactly light, but I carried her with ease. That was different…

I opened the car door and got Ari safely in her booster seat before getting in the seat beside her. I wasn't sure if we were all going to this storage place in the same car, but it made sense to me.

I just buckled my seat belt when mom, Uncle Charlie and Bella came out after us and got in the car. Uncle Charlie was in the passenger seat, and Bella sat beside me, and of course, mom drove. She doesn't trust anyone with her Cayenne.

"So where is this storage place?" I asked.

"In Hoquiam." Mom answered. Hoquiam was where Aunt Opium lived when she was still alive. If she left all of her stuff to mom and Uncle Charlie, it must still be in the Swan name.

"I can't believe this." I whispered, leaning my head against the headrest.


End file.
